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Isaiah 52 commentary
1. ISAIAH 52 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
1.BARNES, “Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isa_51:9). This address to Jerusalem is
intimately connected with the closing verses of the preceding chapter. Jerusalem is there
represented as down-trodden in the dust before her enemies. Here she is described under the
image of a female that had been clad in the habiliments of mourning, and she is now called on to
arise from this condition, and to put on the garments that would be indicative of gladness and of
joy. The idea is, that the time had come now in which she was to be delivered from her long
captivity, and was to be restored to her former prosperity and splendor.
Put on thy strength - Hebrew, ‘Clothe thyself with thy strength.’ The idea is, exert thyself,
be strong, bold, confident; arise from thy dejection, and become courageous as one does when
he is about to engage in an enterprise that promises success, and that demands effort.
Put on thy beautiful garments - Jerusalem is here addressed, as she often is, as a female
(see the note at Isa_1:8). She was to lay aside the garments expressive of grief and of captivity,
and deck herself with those which were appropriate to a state of prosperity.
The uncircumcised and the unclean - The idea is, that those only should enter
Jerusalem and dwell there who would be worshippers of the true God. The uncircumcised are
emblems of the impure, the unconverted, and the idolatrous; and the meaning is, that in future
times the church would be pure and holy. It cannot mean that no uncircumcised man or idolater
would ever again enter the city of Jerusalem, for this would not be true. It was a fact that
Antiochus and his armies, and Titus and his army entered Jerusalem, and undoubtedly hosts of
others did also who were not circumcised. But this refers to the future times, when the church of
God would be pure. Its members would, in the main, be possessors of the true religion, and
would adorn it. Probably, therefore, the view of the prophet extended to the purer and happier
times under the Messiah, when the church should be characteristically and eminently holy, and
when, as a great law of that church, none should be admitted, who did not profess that they were
converted.
2. 2. CLARKE, “There shall no more come into thee - For יבא yabo, “shall come,” לבא
lebo, “to come,” is the reading of five of Kennicott’s and two of De Rossi’s MSS. This is the better
reading, כילאיוסיףלבא ki lo yosiph lebo, “There shall not add to come.”
The uncircumcised and the unclean - Christians have turned many passages of the
prophets against the Jews; and it is not to be wondered at, that in support of their obstinate and
hopeless cause, they should press a prophecy into their service, and make it speak against the
Christians. This Kimchi does in this place; for he says, by the uncircumcised, the Christians are
meant; and by the unclean the Turks. The Christians are uncircumcised and the Turks, though
circumcised, and using many ablutions, are unclean in their works.
3. GILL, “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion,.... Aben Ezra says, all interpreters
agree that this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, and so it is: by Zion is meant the church in Gospel
times, in the latter day glory, which is called upon to awake out of sleep; and this repeated to
show what a deep sleep had fallen on her, the danger she was in through it, and the vehemency
of the speaker, or the great concern the Lord had for her; and this is the very state and case of
the church of Christ now, and the prophecy respects our times, and what follow. There is a
general carnal security, and spiritual drowsiness, which has seized the people of God; a non-
exercise of grace among them, at least it is not a lively one; a sluggishness to and in duty; a
contentment in the external performance of it; an indifference about the cause of Christ, and
power of religion; and an unconcernedness about the truths and ordinances of the Gospel, the
discipline of Christ's house, and the honour of it; which the enemy takes the advantage of, and
sows his tares of false doctrine and worship; wherefore it is high time to "awake" out of sleep,
and to "put on strength", or "clothe" (e) with it, and do the Lord's will, and work and oppose the
enemy. Saints are weak in themselves, but they have strength in Christ, and on him should they
wait, to him should they look, and on him should they exercise faith for it; they should put on
the whole armour of God, clothe themselves with it, resume courage, pluck up a good heart and
spirit, and not fear any difficulties, dangers, and enemies.
Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; another name for the Gospel
church, see Heb_12:22, and which is called "the holy city"; referring to the times in the latter
day, when holiness shall more appear and prevail in the churches; when saints shall be built up
in their holy faith, and more closely attend to holy ordinances, and walk in an holy conversation
and godliness; and especially the New Jerusalem church state will answer to this name, and so it
is called, Rev_21:2, and when the saints will "put on" their "beautiful garments", as on holy
days, and times of rejoicing; their mourning will be over, and all signs of it shall be laid aside;
the witnesses will no more prophesy in sackcloth; the marriage of the Lamb will be come; the
bride made ready, being clothed with fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints,
the garments of Christ's salvation, and the robe of his righteousness; which are the beautiful
garments here meant, which serve for many, and answer all the purposes of a garment; as to
cover nakedness, preserve from the inclemency of the weather, keep warm and comfortable,
beautify and adorn; and beautiful they are, being all of a piece, large and long, pure and spotless,
rich and glorious, and which make those beautiful that wear them; and though, being once on,
they are never off again; yet saints sometimes are remiss in their acts of faith in putting them on,
to which they are here exhorted; see Rev_19:7,
3. for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the
unclean; this shows that the prophecy cannot be understood of Jerusalem literally, nor of the
times of the Babylonish captivity, and deliverance from it, since after this the uncircumcised and
the unclean did enter into it, Antiochus Epiphanes, Pompey, and the Romans; but of the
mystical Jerusalem, the church of Christ, in the latter day, the spiritual reign of Christ; when the
Gentiles, the Papists, meant by the uncircumcised and the unclean, shall no more "come
against" them, as the words (f) may be rendered, and persecute them; and when there will be no
more a mixture of Papists and Protestants, of heretics and orthodox, of hypocrites and saints;
and when there will be few or none under a profession but will have the truth of grace in them;
when every pot and vessel in Jerusalem will be holiness to the Lord, and the Heathen will be
perished out of the land, Zec_14:21, and especially this will be true in the personal reign of
Christ, in the New Jerusalem church state, into which nothing shall enter that defiles, or makes
an abomination, and a lie, Rev_21:27.
4. HENRY, “Here, I. God's people are stirred up to appear vigorous for their own
deliverance, Isa_52:1, Isa_52:2. They had desired that God would awake and put on his
strength, Isa_51:9. Here he calls upon them to awake and put on their strength, to bestir
themselves; let them awake from their despondency, and pluck up their spirits, encourage
themselves and one another with the hope that all will be well yet, and no longer succumb and
sink under their burden. Let them awake from their distrust, look above them, look about them,
look into the promises, look into the providences of God that were working for them, and let
them raise their expectations of great things from God. Let them awake from their dullness,
sluggishness, and incogitancy, and raise up their endeavours, not to take any irregular courses
for their own relief, contrary to the law of nations concerning captives, but to use all likely
means to recommend themselves to the favour of the conqueror and make an interest with him.
God here gives them an assurance, 1. That they should be reformed by their captivity: There
shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean (Isa_52:1); their idolatrous
customs should be no more introduced, or at least not harboured; for when by the marriage of
strange wives, in Ezra's time and Nehemiah's, the unclean crept in, they were soon by the
vigilance and zeal of the magistrates expelled again, and care was taken that Jerusalem should
be a holy city. Thus the gospel Jerusalem is purified by the blood of Christ and the grace of God,
and made indeed a holy city. 2. That they should be relieved and rescued out of their captivity,
that the bands of their necks should be loosed, that they should not now be any longer
oppressed, nay, that they should not be any more invaded, as they had been: There shall no
more come against thee (so it may be read) the uncircumcised and the clean. The heathen shall
not again enter into God's sanctuary and profane his temple, Psa_79:1. This must be understood
with a condition. If they keep close to God, and keep in with him, God will keep off, will keep out
of the enemy; but, if they again corrupt themselves, Antiochus will profane their temple and the
Romans will destroy it. However, for some time they shall have peace. And to this happy change,
now approaching, they are here called to accommodate themselves. (1.) Let them prepare for
joy: “Put on thy beautiful garments, no longer to appear in mourning weeds and the habit of thy
widowhood. Put on a new face, a smiling countenance, now that a new and pleasant scene
begins to open.” The beautiful garments were laid up then, when the harps were hung on the
willow trees; but, now there is occasion for both, let both be resumed together. “Put on thy
strength, and, in order to that, put on thy beautiful garments, in token of triumph and rejoicing.”
Note, The joy of the Lord will be our strength (Neh_8:10), and our beautiful garments will serve
for armour of proof against the darts of temptation and trouble. And observe, Jerusalem must
put on her beautiful garments when she becomes a holy city, for the beauty of holiness is the
most amiable beauty, and the more holy we are the more cause we have to rejoice. (2.) Let them
4. prepare for liberty: “Shake thyself from the dust in which thou hast lain, and into which thy
proud oppressors have trodden thee (Isa_51:23), or into which thou hast in thy extreme sorrow
rolled thyself.” Arise, and set up; so it may be read. “O Jerusalem! prepare to get clear of all the
marks of servitude thou hast been under and to shift thy quarters: Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck; be inspired with generous principles and resolutions to assert thy own liberty.” The
gospel proclaims liberty to those who were bound with fears and makes it their duty to take hold
of their liberty. Let those who have been weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin,
finding relief in Christ, shake themselves from the dust of their doubts and fears and loose
themselves from those bands; for, if the Son make them free, they shall be free indeed.
II. God stirs up himself to appear jealous for the deliverance of his people. He here pleads their
cause with himself, and even stirs up himself to come and save them, for his reasons of mercy
are fetched from himself. Several things he here considers.
5. JAMISON, “Isa_52:1-15. First through thirteen verses connected with fifty-first chapter.
Zion long in bondage (Isa_51:17-20) is called to put on beautiful garments appropriate to its
future prosperity.
strength — as thy adornment; answering to “beautiful garments” in the parallel clause.
Arouse thyself from dejection and assume confidence.
the holy city — (Neh_11:1; Rev_21:2).
no more ... unclean — (Isa_35:8; Isa_60:21; Joe_3:17; Rev_21:27). A prophecy never yet
fulfilled.
uncircumcised — spiritually (Eze_44:9; Act_7:51).
6. K&D, “The same call, which was addressed in Isa_51:9 to the arm of Jehovah that was
then represented as sleeping, is here addressed to Jerusalem, which is represented as a sleeping
woman. “Awake, awake; clothe thyself in thy might, O Zion; clothe thyself in thy state dresses,
O Jerusalem, thou holy city: for henceforth there will no more enter into thee one
uncircumcised and unclean! Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose
thyself from the chains of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion!” Jerusalem is lying upon the
ground stupefied with the wrath of God, and exhausted with grief; but this shameful prostration
and degradation will now come to an end. She is to rise up and put on her might, which has long
been broken down, and apparently has altogether disappeared, but which can and must be
constantly renewed, because it rests upon the foundation of an inviolable promise. She is to
wake up and recover her ancient power, and put on her state robes, i.e., her priestly and royal
ornaments, which belong to her as a “royal city,” i.e., as the city of Jehovah had His anointed
one. For henceforth she will be what she was always intended to be, and that without any further
desecration. Heathen, uncircumcised, and those who were unclean in heart and flesh
(Eze_44:9), had entered her by force, and desecrated her: heathen, who had no right to enter
the congregation of Jehovah as they were (Lam_1:10). But she should no longer be defiled, not
to say conquered, by such invaders as these (Joe_3:17; Nah_2:1; compare Joe_3:7 with
Nah_2:1). On the construction non perget intrabit = intrare, see Ges. §142, 3, c. In Isa_52:2 the
idea of the city falls into the background, and that of the nation takes its place. ירולשׁם י ִב ְשׁ does
not mean “captive people of Jerusalem,” however, as Hitzig supposes, for this would require
הָי ִב ְשׁ in accordance with the personification, as in Isa_52:2. The rendering supported by the lxx
is the true one, “Sit down, O Jerusalem;” and this is also the way in which it is accentuated. The
exhortation is the counterpart of Isa_47:1. Jerusalem is sitting upon the ground as a prisoner,
5. having no seat to sit upon; but this is only that she may be the more highly exalted; - whereas
the daughter of Babylon is seated as a queen upon a throne, but only to be the more deeply
degraded. The former is now to shake herself free from the dust, and to rise up and sit down
(viz., upon a throne, Targum). The captive daughter of Zion (she
bhiyyah, αᅶχµάλωτος, Exo_12:29,
an adjective written first for the sake of emphasis, as in Isa_10:30; Isa_53:11) is to undo for
herself (sibi laxare according to p. 62, note, like hithnachel, Isa_14:2, sibi possidendo capere) the
chains of her neck (the chethib ,התפתחו they loosen themselves, is opposed to the beautiful
parallelism); for she who was mourning in her humiliation is to be restored to honour once
more, and she who was so shamefully laden with fetters to liberty.
7. CALVIN, “1.Awake, awake. He confirms the former doctrine, in order still more to arouse the people
who had been weighed down by grief and sorrow. These things were necessary to be added as spurs,
that the doctrine might more easily penetrate into their drowsy and stupified hearts; for he addresses the
Church, which appeared to be in a benumbed and drowsy condition, and bids her “” that she may collect
her strength and revive her courage, he repeats it a second time, and with great propriety; for it is difficult
to arouse and reanimate those whose hearts have been struck, and even laid prostrate, by a sense of
God’ anger.
Put on thy strength. As if he had said, “ thou wast dejected, and wallowedst in filth and pollution; now
prepare for a happy and prosperous condition, to which the Lord will restore thee.” Thus he
contrasts “” with despondency, such as is usually found when affairs are desperate; and he
contrasts garments of beauty with filth and pollution.
For henceforth there shall not come to thee. The reason assigned by him is, that henceforth God will not
permit wicked men to indulge their sinful inclinations for destroying it. Freed from their tyranny, the Church
already has cause to rejoice; and security for the future holds out solid ground for joy and gladness. Yet
Isaiah exhorts us to mutual congratulation when God is reconciled to his Church; and indeed if we have
any piety in us, we ought to be deeply affected by her condition, that we may rejoice in her prosperity, and
be grieved in her adversity. (37) In short, it ought to be the height of our gladness, as also the Psalmist
says,
“ my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I remember not thee, and if thou be not the crown of my gladness.”
(Psa_137:6.)
By the word come, he means what we commonly express by the phrase, (Avoir e entree,) “ have
access.”
By the uncircumcised and unclean, he means all irreligious persons who corrupt the worship of God and
oppress consciences by tyranny. It was customary to apply the term “” to all who were estranged from the
Church, which had for its symbol “” by which all believers were distinguished. But as very many persons,
though they bore this outward mark of the covenant, were not better than others, in order to remove all
doubt, he added the word “” for the mark of “ is nothing in itself,” (Gal_5:6,) and (unless, as Paul says,
there be added purity of heart) “ even reckoned uncircumcision.” (Rom_2:25,) Accordingly, he declares
that henceforth such persons shall not be admitted into the Church, in order that, by the removal of
corruptions, and the restoration of the worship of God, she may possess perfect joy. Yet I do not object to
6. viewing these words as applied to outward foes, whom he calls by hateful names, that even the severity
of the punishment may warn the Jews of the heinousness of their offenses.
(37) “Pour rire et chanter quand elle florit, et pleurer lors qu’ est persecutee.” “ laugh and sing when she is
flourishing, and to weep when she is persecuted.”
8. SBC, “I. The occurrence in the Church’s history of successive periods of energy and of
languor. The uninterrupted growth would be best; but if that has not been, then the ending of
winter by spring, and the supplying of the dry branches, and the resumption of the arrested
growth is the next best and the only alternative to rotting away. We ought to desire such a
merciful interruption of the sad continuity of our languor and decay. The surest sign of its
coming would be a widespread desire and expectation of its coming, joined with a penitent
consciousness of our heavy and sinful slumber. And another sign of its approach is the extremity
of the need. "If winter come, can spring be far behind?"
II. The twofold explanation of these variations. (1) It is true that God’s arm slumbers, and is not
clothed with power. There are, as a fact, apparent variations in the energy with which He works
in the Church and in the world. And they are real variations, not merely apparent. The might
with which God works in the world through His Church varies according to the Church’s
receptiveness and faithfulness. (2) If God’s arm seems to slumber, and really does so, it is
because Zion sleeps. The law has ever been, "According to your faith be it unto you." God gives
as much as we will, as much as we can hold, as much as we use, and far more than we deserve.
III. The beginning of all awaking is the Church’s earnest cry to God. Look at the passionate
earnestness of Israel’s cry, thrice repeated, as from one in mortal need, and see to it that our
drowsy prayers be like it. Look at the grand confidence with which it founds itself on the past,
recounting the mighty deeds of ancient days; and looking back, not for despair, but for joyful
confidence on the generations of old; and let our faint-hearted faith be quickened by the
example to expect great things of God.
IV. The answering call from God to Zion. Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’s promises.
God’s best answers are the echoes of our prayers. (1) The chief means of quickened life and
strength is deepened communion with Christ. (2) This summons calls us to the faithful use of
the power which, on condition of that communion, we have.
A. Maclaren, The Secret of Power, p. 58.
References: Isa_51:9.—A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 264. Isa_51:9,
Isa_51:10.—G. H. Wilkinson, Penny Pulpit, No. 1038 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p.
214). Isa_51:11.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 15; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 25.
Isaiah 52:1
I. Consider God’s command to His people, "Awake, awake." (1) Certain objects of vision are
important to the Church of God, and that these may be kept in view, God saith, "Awake, awake."
The objects which I would name are ever-existent and ever-present spiritual objects—God, our
one Father; the Son of God, our only Saviour; and the Comforter, who proceedeth from the
7. Father and the Son. (2) Certain sources of supply and fountains of pleasure and means of help
are important to the Church of God, and that these may be possessed and enjoyed and used, God
saith, "Awake, awake." (3) There is good and godly work to be done by Zion; therefore God saith,
"Awake, awake." There are two objects in the sphere of our present thought, towards which the
Church of God requires to be faithful, and therefore wakeful. (a) Her own endowments, and (b)
her opportunities. (4) There are battles which Zion is called to fight, and victories to be won
which Zion alone can win; therefore God bids Zion awake.
II. Having interpreted the voice, let us note some of its features and characteristics. (1) The voice
that would awaken us is divine. (2) The voice that would awaken us is powerful and full of
majesty—a voice, therefore, that stirs and that strengthens, while it stirs him who listens to it.
(3) The voice that would awaken us has in it a tone of reproach. The cry, "Awake, awake,"
corrects and rebukes, while it stimulates and exhorts. (4) This voice is a gracious voice. It is the
voice of Him who has called His people to be His people, and who will not cast off His people; it
is a voice that woos and wins, while it stimulates and arouses. (5) The voice that cries "Awake,
awake," is the voice of Zion’s God. He who calls Zion His own, and possesses her as a
bridegroom his bride, calls, "Awake, awake."
S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 85.
Isaiah 52:1
I. The word "strength" represents those properties and qualities which are developed in
endurance and in action, also a very high degree of active force and enduring power. The
strength of any community is primarily in the individuals who constitute it; so that the strength
of the Church of God is not entirely, but first of all, in the separate members of that body. (1) The
strength of Zion is the strength of human nature. (2) The strength of Zion is also the power of
every religious principle. (3) There is strength in all life, and Zion lives with the rich and full and
eternal life of God within her. (4) The strength of Zion is the power of certain agencies and
influences. The Church has power in her testimony to truth, in her intercession before God, and
in her character as the leaven of society and the salt of the nations.
II. God saith, "Put on thy strength, O Zion." If a man puts out his strength, he puts on strength;
he appears clothed with strength, as with a garment. The text assumes that Zion’s strength is not
put out. The terms in which she is addressed prove this. "Awake, awake, O Zion." In sleep all the
members of the body put on weakness. Now God is not satisfied with this, and He cries, "Awake,
awake; put on thy strength, O Zion."
III. Notice some reasons why God should thus speak to His Church. (1) God bids Zion put on her
strength for self-manifestation. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Strong winds make themselves heard. Strong
sunshine makes itself felt. Strong life shows itself, whether in the animal or vegetable kingdom.
And the Church, to be heard and seen and felt and known, must be strong. (2) God bids Zion put
on her strength that He may be glorified. A redeemed man is a new creation and a Divine
workmanship. On the principle involved in the words, "This people have I formed for Myself;
they shall show forth My praise," Zion is required to put on her strength. (3) God requires Zion
to put out her strength for the sake of her own well-being. If the powers of the Church be
inactive, they will decline. Unmanifested religious life, whether in the person or the community,
soon subsides. (4) Zion is required to put on her strength in order to meet the claims of a sinful
and suffering world. Zion’s mission demands Zion’s strength. (5) God directs Zion to put on her
strength, because strength has been given her to put on. Whatever God makes us be, He would
8. have us appear to be. Whatever God endows us with, He would have us use and employ. (6) Is
not this putting on of strength as essential to Zion’s peace and joy as to her outward prosperity?
The Church of the living God can only have rest and be joyful as she does put on strength. Sleep
is not always sweet. There is a kind of sleep that is most uneasy, and the misery of idleness and
inactivity is proverbial.
S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 98.
Isaiah 52:1
Men can rouse themselves to action. There is more power in man than he may be aware of, and
he should inquire what objects and pursuits are worthy of his enthusiastic devotion.
I. No object which bears upon this world only is worthy of the supreme energy of man.
II. Spiritual objects are alone worthy of the supreme energy of man. (1) They are akin to his own
nature. (2) They touch every point of his being. (3) They prepare him for the solemnity and
service of the future.
III. The fact that spiritual objects alone are worthy of the supreme energy of man should impel
to decisive action. (1) "Put on thy strength"—for the time is short. (2) "Put on thy strength"—for
the enemy is on the alert. (3) "Put on thy strength"—for the Master is worthy.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 67 (see also Pulpit Notes, p. 81).
8B. CHARLES SIMEON 1-3, “DESPONDENCY REPROVED
Isa_52:1-3. Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion: put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the
holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake
thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O
captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be
redeemed without money.
NOTHING is more common, than for men to cast reflections upon God, when the fault is wholly in
themselves. The ungodly world, when urged to devote themselves to God, agreeably to the divine
commands, will allege, that those commands are themselves unreasonable, because it is not in their
power to obey them. Thus they cast the blame, not on themselves, for the inveteracy of their evil habits
and the alienation of their hearts from God, but upon God himself, as requiring so much at their hands. It
were well if this disposition were not found also amongst persons professing godliness. But the godly
themselves, under the power of temptation, are apt to complain of God, as unwilling to hear their prayer,
and to deliver them from their troubles; when, in fact, they neglect to use the means through which alone
they are authorized to expect success. This the Jewish Church had done; saying, in a querulous tone, to
God, “Awake, awake; put on strength, O arm of the Lord!” But the Lord retorts upon them the accusation,
and says, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion!” that is, ‘Do not stand complaining of me, as if I
were inattentive to your welfare; but exert the powers which ye have; and, in the diligent use of them,
expect my promised blessing.’
The words thus explained will give me a just occasion to observe,
I. That we should exert ourselves, as if all depended on our own efforts—
To this the Jews were called, in the midst of all their discouragements—
9. [In the Babylonish captivity, despondency prevailed amongst them, as if it were not possible for them ever
to be delivered. But it became them, like Daniel, to study the prophecies relating to their captivity; and, in
a state of holy preparation, confidently to expect deliverance at God’s appointed time. “Be ye clean, that
bear the vessels of the Lord; for ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before
you; and the God of Israel will be your rere-ward [Note: ver. 11, 12.].”
The promise, that “there should no more come into Jerusalem the uncircumcised and the unclean,”
evidently directs our minds to a period yet future: for not only was Jerusalem invaded after their return
from Babylon, but the very worship of the temple was suspended by Antiochus: their city also, and
temple, und polity, were subsequently destroyed by the Romans; and their whole nation have now
remained above seventeen hundred years in a state of utter desolation and dispersion. But they must not
on that account despond. The prophecies relating to their future restoration shall surely be fulfilled: and it
becomes them all to be in a state of holy expectation; just as Abraham was, when, at the distance of two
thousand years, “he saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced.” This gives us what I apprehend to be the true
view of our text: God directs his complaining people to anticipate with joy that blissful period: “Awake,
awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; (even as a
bride expecting the speedy arrival of the bridegroom:) for there shall no more come into thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean: (after their restoration, no Chaldean, or other foe, shall ever overwhelm
them more.) Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”]
To this also every desponding saint is called—
[There is no condition that can justify a desponding inactivity. The word of God is full of exceeding great
and precious promises, which shall all be fulfilled in their season, to those who rely upon them. These we
should contemplate: we should treasure them up in our minds: we should plead them before God in
prayer: we should expect assuredly the fulfilment of them: however long or dark our night may be, we
should look with confidence for the returning light of day: we should know, that “the goings forth of
Jehovah” for the salvation of his people “are prepared as the morning;” and that he will appear at the
appointed hour. However frequently vanquished by our spiritual foes, we should return to the charge,
“strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” We should never, for a moment, suffer the thought of
our weakness to discourage us: we should rather make it a reason for exertion, in the full confidence, that
“when we are weak, then are we strong;” and that “God will perfect his strength in our weakness.” This is
the very instruction which an inspired Apostle gives us: “Work out,” says he, “your own salvation with fear
and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure
[Note: Php_2:12-13.].” The man with the withered hand is a fit example for us to follow. The command
given him by our Lord was, “Stretch forth thine hand.” He did not indolently reply, ‘I cannot; but
immediately made an effort to comply; and, in the attempt, he was strengthened to perform the deed
[Note: Mat_12:13.]. So would it be with us, if, in Obedience to God’s word, and in dependence on his
grace, we addressed ourselves to the duties which we have to perform: “our light would soon rise in
obscurity, and our darkness be as the noon-day.” The very exhibition of a lamp from a broken pitcher, if
done in faith, should be sufficient to overcome the strongest foe [Note: Jdg_7:16-21.].]
From God’s reply to his complaining people we learn,
II. That we should expect every thing from God, as if there were no need of personal exertions—
Such was the instruction given to the Jews—
[Captives are wont to be redeemed with money. But what prospect had the Jews of being liberated from
captivity on such terms as these? They were despoiled of every thing; and had no friend to interpose in
their behalf, and to pay a ransom for them. But, says God, “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ve
shall be redeemed without money.” Look back, and see, What did ye ever gain by all the transgressions
by which ye provoked me to cast you off? Know then, that as ye never received any thing in return for
your souls, so shall ye never be called upon togive any thing for the liberation of them. This was
10. specifically promised; and the very person who should liberate them was proclaimed by name three
hundred years before any such person existed in the world [Note: Isa_44:28; Isa_45:13.]: and it was
fulfilled at the time predicted; yea, so literally fulfilled, that not only were they permitted to return to their
native land, but means were afforded them for rebuilding their city and temple; and the vessels which had
been taken away by the Chaldean monarch, were restored to them, for the service of the sanctuary, and
the worship of their God [Note: 2Ch_36:22-23 and Ezr_1:2-11.].
In what precise manner their future restoration shall be accomplished, we do not exactly know: but sure
we are, that it shall “not be by price or reward” given to the various potentates who rule over them: no; it
shall be in a way not less wonderful than their deliverance from Egypt or from Babylon; a way that shall
leave no doubt, upon the minds of any, that the hand of the Lord hath done it [Note: ver. 6.]. To this the
whole nation may look forward with confidence; for “the mountains shall depart,” saith God, “and the hills
be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee; neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.”]
Such, too, is the lesson that must be learned by us—
[“We have sold ourselves for nought.” I will appeal to every one amongst you; What have you ever gained
by sin? What has the world ever done for you? What have you ever found in it, but “vanity and vexation of
spirit?” Truly it may be said of you also, that you have never receivedany thing in return for your souls. To
you also may it be said, that neither are ye called to give any thing for their redemption. The price has
been already paid, even “the precious blood of God’s only dear Son, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot [Note: 1Pe_1:18-19.]:” and all that remains for you is, to receive freely what your God so
freely bestows [Note: Rom_3:24.]. The proclamation has gone forth: it is already issued from the court of
heaven: the jubilee-trumpet has announced it long: “Shake yourselves from the dust: loose yourselves
from the bands of your necks, ye captive daughters of Zion:” return ye, every one, from your sore
bondage, and take possession of your forfeited inheritance: receive all the blessings of salvation “freely,
without money, and without price [Note: Isa_55:1.].” Sit not, any of you, in a desponding frame, crying,
“Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord!” but hear your God saying to you, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength,
O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into thee
the uncircumcised and unclean.” Complete deliverance is at hand, for all that truly desire it; for all that are
willing to receive it. Do not imagine that it is any mark of humility to doubt: it is no virtue in you; but rather
a grievous insult to your God. So God himself represents it: “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O
Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known?
hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them
that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men
shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint [Note:Isa_40:27-31.].” As for
seeking to justify your despondency. by any peculiarities in your state, it is all folly; it is all impiety; it is all
a forgetfulness of God. “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? Yes:
thus saith the Lord; even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall
be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee; and I will save thy children
[Note: Isa_49:24-25.].” Fear not, then, thou desponding soul; but commit thy cause to God: and know
assuredly, that the more simple thine affiance is in him, and the more confident thine expectation of his
effectual help, the more speedy and manifest shall be his interpositions in thy behalf. Only believe in him;
and he will glorify himself in thy complete and everlasting deliverance.]
9. BI 1-6, “The essential elements of a Church’s strength
11. I.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL ELEMENTS OF STRENGTH. I use the word constitution in a
legitimate sense, as including both the creed and the polity of a Church.
1. The creed. As a man’s life is the outcome of what he believes, or does not believe, precisely
so is the Church’s. But is not the Bible the acknowledged creed of all the Churches? No; no
more than the stars are astronomy, or the flowers botany. The Bible is the source of the
creed of all, but it is the creed of none, for the simple reason that the Bible, like every other
writing, must be construed; and on many points it cannot be construed in the same way by
all.
2. The government. Hers also that which is true of man is true of the Church. An army is
stronger than a mob.
II. ADMINISTRATIVE ELEMENTS. But a Church is not only obliged to have certain
constitutional and other laws, it is also obliged to administer them for the twofold purpose—
1. Of protecting itself against corruption and disintegration.
2. In order that it may efficiently fulfil its mission of witnessing for Christ, whereunto it was
Divinely called.
III. SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS OF STRENGTH.
1. Peace. There must be battles with the common enemy, but no battles with itself.
2. Unity.
3. Co-operation.
4. Purity.
5. The Holy Spirit. (R. V. Foster, D.D.)
God’s call to a sleeping Church
1. This chapter is a trumpet-call to holiness. Jerusalem is called the holy city, and yet the
passage is full of her sins. She was holy in the intention of God. So we are called not to be
famous or wealthy but to be holy.
2. Her condition was characterized by—
(1) Unhallowed intercourse with the world (Isa_52:1). The uncircumcised and unclean
in her midst.
(2) Slavish subserviency to the world (Isa_51:23). The moment the world sees Christians
turning to it for pleasure or patronage, It becomes a very tyrant, over them.
(3) Utter helplessness and impotence. The figure of a “wild bull in a net” means strength
reduced to helplessness by little things. Satan forged fetters of persecutions in early days,
now he tries the “net business.” Many Christians are worthless because caught in a net of
little compromises with the world and with conscience. The “fainting” (verse 20) points
to the helplessness of the Christian Church in the presence of the moral and social evils
of the day.
(4) They were asleep to it all.
3. The man who called “Awake” to Zion, had previously cried “Awake” to Isa_51:9).
12. 4. To be awakened is not enough. If we go no further we shall go back either into
indifference, or into rebellion, or into despair. The call is “put on thy strength, put on thy
beautiful garments.” Garments of praise, cloth of zeal, beautiful covering of humility. In this
the Christian must be always arrayed, for we are children of a King, and God wants us always
to appear in Court dress. (C. Inwood.)
Awake, O Zion
“O Zion!” This is a case in which a place is named for the inhabitants. Leaving what is local and
temporary and particular in the reference of these words, we proceed to consider them as
addressed by the redeeming God to His Church now, and as calling upon.Christians to arouse
themselves and revive, to bestir themselves, and to rise into a state of intelligent and Godlike
activity. These words assume the presence of life in the people addressed. Those called to awake
are not dead, but they sleep; and they sleep, so far as inactivity is concerned, as though they
were dead.
I. CERTAIN OBJECTS OF VISION ARE IMPORTANT TO THE CHURCH OF GOD, and that
these may be kept in view, God saith, “Awake awake!” Among the objects which we need to see
are things behind us; and things before us; such things as are presented by sacred history and by
inspired promise and prophecy. But the objects which I would now emphatically name, are ever-
existent and ever-present spiritual objects—God our one Father, the Son of God our only
Saviour, and the Comforter, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son—especially the Son of
God, as the brightness of the Father’s glory, and as the propitiation which God has set forth. The
things we need to see are the wondrous things contained in God’s Word, things of God and of
man, things which accompany salvation, things of angels and of devils, things of Christ, things of
the world around us and above us and beneath us. The Church of God maybe awake to lower
and inferior things, and may be asleep to these highest things, or, if not asleep, but half awake,
so that men seem like trees walking.
II. CERTAIN SOURCES OF SUPPLY AND FOUNTAINS OF PLEASURE AND MEANS OF
HELP ARE IMPORTANT TO THE CHURCH OF GOD, and that these may be possessed and
enjoyed and used, God saith, “Awake, awake!”
III. THERE IS GOOD AND GODLY WORK TO BE DONE BY ZION, therefore God saith,
“Awake, awake.” Zion is like a nursing mother, with her heart full of cares and her hands full of
work. Zion is a worshipper, and she has the incense of prayer and the sacrifices of thanksgiving
to provide and to offer; Zion is an intercessor, and it is expected that in ceaseless prayer she will
keep no silence, nor give the hearer of prayer rest; Zion is an almoner, and it is expected that
having freely received she will freely give; Zion is a servant of the most high God, and she is
bound to do all that her hands find to do with all her might. Her work is so various that Zion is
as a husbandman, and as a builder, and as a vine-dresser. For work and service Zion is Divinely
endowed, taught of God that she may teach godliness, consoled by God that she may comfort
others, guided by God that she may lift up her voice with strength, and cry to the bewildered and
the lost, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” There are two objects in the sphere of our present
thought, toward which the Church of God requires to be faithful and therefore wakeful.
1. Her own endowments.
2. Her opportunities.
IV. THERE ARE BATTLES WHICH ZION IS CALLED TO FIGHT, AND VICTORIES TO BE
WON WHICH ZION ALONE CAN WIN; therefore God bids Zion awake. Having interpreted the
voice, let us note some of its features and characteristics—
13. 1. The voice that would awaken us is Divine. It is the voice of a Ruler to His subjects, of a
Master to His servants, of a Parent to His sons, of a Redeemer to His Redeemed.
2. The voice that would awaken us is powerful and full of majesty, a voice therefore that
stirs, and that strengthens while it stirs him who listens to it.
S. The voice that would awaken us has in it a tone of reproach. It seems tosay, “What! Zion
asleep! Zion, already and recently quickened from the death of sin? Zion, who can see God, and
the things that are eternal? Zion, who can possess the exceeding riches of God’s grace? Zion,
who can handle as her own the things which angels desire to look into? Zion asleep in the day of
her work, and in the hour of her conflict?”
4. Yet this is a gracious voice. It is a voice that woos and wins while it stimulates and
arouses.
5. The voice that cries, “Awake, awake,” is the voice of Zion’s God. There are degrees of
wakefulness; and regarding the text as calling us to the most complete open-eyedness and
watchfulness, let us arouse ourselves at God’s bidding. (S. Martin.)
The Church asleep
Look at this solemn fact—the Church of the living God asleep! Here are they who have been
quickened from the death of sin into newness of life, and who have been called to walk with the
living God, asleep. The people who are summoned to work in the field of the world, and to
labour in the vineyard of the kingdom of heaven, asleep. The only people who can reasonably be
expected to be awake and wide-awake, are asleep. Asleep, not in healthful, seasonable, necessary
slumber, but asleep in the slumber of the sluggard, or the sleep of the drunkard, or the torpor of
one smitten by atrophy or by apoplexy, or of one in a fatal swoon. (S. Martin.)
What sends the Church to sleep?
The intoxicating draught of some sinful carnal pleasure, or the opiate of some false doctrine, or
the quietude of sinful inertness, or the darkness of cherished ignorance, or the monotony of
formality, or the syren music of false teaching, hath sent Zion to sleep. (S. Martin.)
The sleeping Church
Thus sleeping, Zion doth not sympathize with the circumstances by which she is surrounded,
she does not see the objects within range of her vision, she does not feel the influences which are
moving and working around her, she does not meet the claims made for exertion, she does not
enjoy her mercies, or take possession of her lawful inheritance. (S. Martin.)
The Church: its strength and its weakness
I. The text is a forcible reminder of the fact that THE CHURCH OF GOD, IN ALL AGES, MAY
HAVE ITS TIMES OF WEAKNESS AS WELL AS ITS TIMES OF POWER. When the Church first
went forth from Jerusalem, a little flock, scattered hither and thither by the storm of
persecution, it was a time of power. It was then but an infant of days, but it sprang into a giant of
strength. It was a day of power when the Church of Christ, as Paul Richter has said, “lifted
empires off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel. But a thousand
14. years roll on, and a time of weakness follows this era of power. The giant sleeps; his strength is
put off; he reposes amidst the scarlet trappings and gilded blazonry of the Papacy, and seems to
have wilted into a senile imbecility. But again there came a time of power when, on the morning
of the Reformation, the Church heard the cry, “Awake, awake!” and, springing up with renewed
youth, it put on its strength. There was a time of weakness when the chill of formalism followed
in the track of the Reformation, and the Church sank into the coma of a widespread paralysis;
again, when a disguised Romanism riveted her fetters; and still again when the Socinian
apostasy spread its blight over Great Britain. But then came times of power when the Church
arose in quickened majesty to smite the tyrant with the broken fetters which had eaten into its
own soul; and still again, times of wondrous spiritual revival, when the call sounded by Wesley
and Whitefield, like the voice of the prophet in the valley of vision, seemed to awake the dead.
Why these periods of weakness? The principle is plain: Divine power and human strength must
work together, each in its appropriate sphere. As the terror of the iron chariots of the enemy
paralyzed the strength of Judah, so that, the human part being wanting, the victory was lost; so,
in the Church, if any cause supervenes to weaken, or render ineffective, the strength which God
expects us to put forth, He will not depart from His plan, or interpose to save us from the results
of our own weakness, or to hide us from the scorn and derision of the world.
II. WHAT IS THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH, AND WHEN IS IT PUT OFF? In other
words, what causes may supervene to weaken or render it ineffective?
1. The first element of power is the Gospel, the Word, the truth of God. If the truth of God is
the instrument of power, and the human part of the work is simply its manifestation, then
the strength of the Church must be weakened whenever the Gospel is subordinated to
human themes.
2. Let us pass to the second element of the Church s power—the ministry. The Church is a
giant; the Gospel is the instrument of his work—the weapon of his warfare. But what wields
the weapon? The giant’s arm—this is the ministry. It is not an original power inherent in
itself, but adelegated power. This is the power that, beginning at Jerusalem, went forth upon
its mission of conquest—that made the heathen cry: “These men that have turned the world
upside down are come hither also!”
(1) The ministry, as an arm of power, may be withered by a perfunctory education.
(2) The ministry may be ineffective from misdirected effort.
(3) The ministry must be a source of weakness instead of power to the Church, if it is not
in sympathy with the hearts of the people, and the souls of perishing men.
3. The third and principal element of the Church’s power is the Holy Ghost. Since, then, the
Spirit s power is the strength of the Church, the want of the Spirit is the weakness of the
Church. If the Church is not an effective, aggressive power in the world, it is because it puts
off or puts away the strength of the Spirit. This is done when we subordinate the Divine
Spirit to human agency; when, by organization or by human eloquence, or by methods and
appliances, or by running the Church on business principles, we seek to effect that which it is
the special office of the Spirit to accomplish. It is greatly to be feared that we put away the
strength of the Spirit when the Church—the whole Church, the ministry and the people, fail
to realize our profound and absolute dependence upon the power of the Spirit for success in
all work.
III. Let us listen to GOD’S CALL TO THE CHURCH TO PUT ON AND TO PUT FORTH HER
STRENGTH. How shall we put on this strength? Power with God, in its first element, is the
sense of our own weakness. How, then, shall we put on strength?
1. On our knees.
15. 2. Let us put on the strength of the Word, as the apostle did, when he shunned not to declare
the whole counsel of God.
3. Let us put on the strength of the ministry, as Paul did when he went forth in the fulness of
the blessing of the Gospel of peace.
4. Let us put on the strength of the Spirit, as the early Church did when it was endued with
power from on high. Then shall our work be “mighty, through God, to the pulling down of
strongholds.” (W. M. Paxton, D. D.)
“Awake, Awake!”
Let us take the central paragraph first (Isa_51:17). There Jerusalem is addressed as stupefied by
some intoxicating potion. But her drunkenness is not of wine, nor of strong drink; she has drunk
at the hand of the Lord “the cup of His fury.” Such imagery is often used by the prophets, of the
cup of God’s wrath drunk down by those on whom it descends, and inflicting on them the
insensibility and stupefaction with which we are but too familiar as the effect of excessive
drinking. The whole city has succumbed under the spell. Her sons have fainted, and lie strewn in
all the streets, like antelopes snared in the hunters’ nets, from which their struggles have failed
to extricate them. Amid such circumstances, the servant of Jehovah is introduced, crying,
“Awake, awake! stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His
fury.” There are other soporifics than the wrath of God: the air of the enchanted ground; the
laudanum of evil companionship; the drugs of worldly pleasure, of absorption in business, of
carnal security. The army of the Lord is too apt to put off the armour of light, and resign itself to
heavy slumbers, till the clarion voice warns it that it is high time to awake.
I. ZION S APPEAL TO GOD. “Awake, awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord.”
1. The first symptom of awaking is a cry. It is so with a child. It is so with the soul. When
Saul of Tarsus was converted, the heavenly watchers said, “Behold, he prayeth.” It is so with
the Church.
2. The cry in this case was founded on a mistake. If there are variations in our inner life, it is
because our rate of reception differs from time to time. It is not God who sleeps, but we. It is
not for God to awake, but for us. It is not necessary for the Divine arm to gird on strength,
but for the human to take that which is within its easy reach.
3. The cry is short and earnest. Earnestness is good, even though at first it may be in a wrong
direction.
4. The best basis for our cry is memory of the past. “Art thou not it that cut Rahab (i.e.,
Egypt)
in pieces, that pierced the dragon” (i.e., of the Nile)
? It is well to quote past experiences as arguments for faith.
5. The arm of God is strong (Isa_51:13).
6. The arm of God is far-reaching. However low we sink, underneath are the everlasting
arms.
7. The arm of God is tender (Isa_51:12).
II. THE APPEAL TO ZION. It is blessed to be awaked out of sleep. Life is passing by so rapidly;
the radiant glory of the Saviour may be missed unless we are on the alert, or we may fail to give
Him the sympathy He needs, and an angel will be summoned to do our work. Besides, the world
needs the help of men who give no sleep to their eyes nor slumber to their eyelids, but are always
16. eager to help it in its need. Being awake, we shall discover two sets of attire awaiting us. The first
is strength, the other beauty; and each has its counterpart in the New Testament (Eph_6:1-24;
Col_3:1-25). Put on the whole armour of God. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ—His temper, spirit,
and character.
1. We must put on our beautiful garments. We cannot weave these. We are not able to spin
such a cocoon out of our own nature, nor are we required to do so. They are all prepared for
us in Jesus; we have only to put them on, by putting Him on. This can only be done when the
heart is at leisure.
2. We must put on strength. We are not bidden to purchase strength, or generate it by our
resolutions, prayers, and agonizings: but to “put it on.” It is already prepared, and only
awaits appropriation.
3. We must expect to be delivered from the dominion of sin. Babylon had been bidden to
descend from her throne and sit in the dust; Jerusalem is commanded to arise from the dust
and sit on her throne. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
A call to exertion
I. THE CONSIDERATIONS WHICH JUSTIFY THIS APPEAL.
1. It is obvious that the passage assumes the possession of sufficient strength for
accomplishing the end designed. As to effectual agency, all things are of God. With respect to
our own province, that of instrumental action—our strength is ample, though the conversion
of the world be the object of it. But wherein does our strength for the reconciliation of the
world consist? Strength, in all cases, is the possession of adapted and sufficient means. Now
the means of converting a sinner is the truth of the Gospel. Is Divine truth adapted and
sufficient to this end? To this point inspired testimony is most direct and express. Matters of
fact bring us to the same point. If any attempt should be made to evade the argument, by
referring to the necessity of Divine influence, we reply that Divine influence is undoubtedly
necessary to give the Gospel success. But it is also necessary to give success to the use of
means in every other case. If there be in our hands adapted and sufficient means for
bringing about the universal triumphs of the Gospel, there is manifest justice in the stirring
appeal by which we are roused into action. “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion!”
Persons who would reply to such a call, “What is the use of telling me to labour?—it is God
who must do everything,” would merely subject themselves to a severe reproof, and a direct
charge of making their pretended want of power a pretext for their love of sloth.
2. The text assumes the existence of inadequate exertion. It is appropriate only to a state of
comparative indolence and slumber. The language calls not for a partial, but for an entire
employment of our resources. “Put on thy strength.” The meaning cannot be less than this:
The scenes which are in prospect will require your utmost efforts; the victory will be quite as
much as you will be able to win; put into requisition, therefore, all your powers, and exert
your whole strength.
II. THE TOPICS BY WHICH THIS CALL MAY BE ENFORCED.
1. Notice the interesting character of the object to be attained. The end contemplated in the
text was personally and directly interesting to the parties addressed. Zion was called to exert
herself for her own triumphs. It was for their restoration to the land of their fathers that the
slumbering exiles were summoned to awake. We also should remember that the triumphs of
Christianity are our triumphs, and the increase of the Church is our enlargement. Are we
willing that the Church should continue to be small and despised, or do we really wish to see
17. her arrayed in celestial beauty, and the joy of the whole earth? The interests of Zion are
identified with those of a guilty and perishing world. The advancement of Zion is identified
with the glory of her Lord.
2. The proximity of the most blessed results. Triumphs, and even our ultimate triumphs are
at hand. The prospect of success is one of the most natural stimulants to exertion.
3. The necessity of exertion in order to the expected results.
4. The actual suspension of the issue upon our obedience. It suggests the animating
sentiment, that the final glories of the Church are waiting for her awaking, and for that
alone. (J. H. Hinton, M.A.)
The Church’s duty towards the world
In Isa_52:9, of the former chapter, the Church prays God to interfere on her behalf, to exert His
omnipotent arm. In the seventeenth verse He calls upon the Church to do something to gain this
object. And in my text, which is connected with, that exhortation, He repeats it: “Awake, awake,
put on thy strength, O Zion,” etc. If then, we would have the arm of the Lord with us in anything
we do for His cause, we must do more than pray.
I. THE SPIRIT WHICH GOD ENJOINS HIS CHURCH TO EVINCE. The language of the text is
metaphorical, and highly poetical; but it inculcates upon us, that we put on—
1. A spirit of wakefulness. Wakefulness is opposed to indifference and sloth.
2. A spirit of agression. “Put on thy strength, O Zion.” For what purpose? Certainly to
oppose her foes; to make aggressions on the territory of the master spirit of evil. And what is
the Church’s “strength,” which she is to put on! It consists in a large measure of Divine
influences. The Church’s “strength” consists in spiritual wisdom and spiritual courage. The
“strength” of the Church consists in the cheerful assurance of God’s love to us individually—
in having it “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” “The joy of
the Lord is your strength.” And it consists in daily communion with God. Come with me back
to Pentecostal days, and see how the Church acted when thus equipped. She “put on her
strength,” anal went forth in a spirit of aggression.
3. A spirit of piety. “Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.”
(1) What are the “beautiful garments” of the Church? Let the prophet expound his own
language (Isa_61:10). These they are to “put on,” as on marriage days, as on holy-days,
as on days of rejoicing.
(2) As garments are for dignity and beauty, so the Church is only beautiful when thus
clothed. They are for defence and protection also, and in them as in a movable garrison
we go about, resisting the inclemency of the weather; and these guard us against the
curses of God’s law, and all the evils resulting from our misery and wretchedness; They
distinguish between the sexes, and denote the station, and so the Church s garments
distinguish her from the world.
(3) The Church puts on these garments, when she applies to Christ by faith and exhibits
the fruits of His salvation in her life and conduct. Our Lord so interprets it: “Thou hast a
few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garment.” And when holiness and
faith meet in the character, how beautiful is it, and how fit for action!
II. THE EFFECTS WHICH WILL NECESSARILY AND CERTAINLY RESULT IF THE CHURCH
OBEYS THE INJUNCTION OF HER LORD.
18. 1. The conversion of souls. “There shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the
unclean;” metaphors descriptive of pollution arising from an unconverted state.
Unregenerate souls shall not be found within her borders. This has been the result
everywhere.
2. The union of the ministers of the Gospel. “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the
voice together shall they sing.
3. The renovation of the world (Isa_52:10). (J. Sherman.)
The Church’s strength
Strength is that which resides in a man, but is not exhibited save in so far as it is exercised and
produces results. His garments, on the other hand, are visible to those who look at him; they
constitute his outward appearance. So that this text refers both to the inward powers and
capabilities of Christ’s Church, and to the visible aspect which it presents to the world. Zion has
strength. The Church has sufficient means and power at its disposal to effect the purposes for
which the Lord founded it. Those purposes are various in form, but perhaps they may be all
summed up in the phrase—to impart to men the knowledge of their Saviour.
I. Let me mention one or two THINGS WHICH ARE GOOD AND USEFUL FOR THEIR
PROPER WORK, BUT OF WHICH IT CANNOT BE SAID THAT ZION’S STRENGTH LIES IN
THEM.
1. The recognition of religion by the State and its establishment by law. We find, as a matter
of history, that in many cases when the favour of the governing powers has been most
decided, the efficacy of the Church in converting sinners and spreading the Gospel has been
feeble and languid; while, on the other hand, some of Zion’s most energetic and successful
efforts have been made without any support at all from the secular authority, and even in
spite of its opposition.
2. An active ministry. There are two aspects of this activity—by activity I understand
diligence in preaching, in visiting the sick, in holding services, and so on. If the clergy are
active because the people are zealous, then it is altogether well: it is a mark of strength. But if
the clergy are active because no one else is, then it is a mark of weakness.
3. The multiplication of religious societies and other machinery. They are good, useful,
necessary things. But they are too often made the excuse for serving God by proxy. The
strength of the Church lies in the zeal for Christ of its individual members.
II. “Put on the garments of thy dignity,” continues the prophet, “O Jerusalem, the Holy City.”
THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THE CHURCH OUGHT TO BE SUCH AS TO COMMAND
THE ADMIRATION EVEN OF THOSE WHO DO NOT BELONG TO IT. We may instance—
1. The garment of righteousness. The people of God ought to present unmistakably the
aspect of a righteous people.
2. The garment of unity. It must be confessed that the servants of God do not present to the
world the aspect of a united people. It is not simply difference of opinion that separates
them: but there are slanders, mutual recriminations, misrepresentations of motives and
conduct, suspicions, jealousies, party-spirit in all its hideous forms, combining to rend and
ruin the beautiful garment of brotherhood in which Jerusalem ought to be clad.
3. The garment of worship. The Church ought to appear before all men as a city wherein the
Lord is worshipped, where He receives the honour due unto His name. The true beauty of
holiness is the sincere devotion of the people, and the natural result of such devotion, viz a
19. really united offering of prayer and praise ascending to the throne of the heavenly grace. (J.
C. Rust, M.A.)
Relapses in the history of the Church
Only two or three centuries after the death of the last of the apostles, history informs us,
Christians were scarcely distinguishable from pagans. The golden-tongued and spiritually-
minded Chrysostom would go home on Sundays from his pulpit in Antioch in Syria only to weep
bitterly over the indifference of the Church and its defection from its first love. One has only to
glance at the history of the Church during the Middle Ages to see that, through all those dark
centuries, the Church was about as dark as the world, and but little less corrupt. The common
people universally were forbidden to read the Bible, and would not have been able to read it had
they been permitted to do so. Popes and cardinals, archbishops and bishops and all the lower
orders of clergy had but little more hesitancy in committing murder, and all the sins in the
decalogue, than they had in attending mass. The Savonarolas who stood up here and there and
preached a better morality and a purer Gospel may be counted on the fingers of one hand. And
the Church manifested its gratitude to them by burning them at the stake. (R. V. Foster, D.D.)
The Church tenacious of its life
The Church, by reason of the heavenly element in it, like a tree of the forest—tenacious of its life;
when the old trunk dies a fresh twig springs from its roots; and when this decays another fresh
twig aprils up in its turn. So Luther and his collaborators, by the grace of God, evoked from the
dead Church of the Middle Ages a fresh and vigorous Protestantism. So Wesley and his co-
workers evoked from the deadness of the later Anglicanism a still fresh and vigorous
Methodism. The Presbyterian Church of John Knox also grew old, and has had its athletic
offshoots. “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion”—and Zion after the awakening is never
the Zion of the pro-awakening. (R. V. Foster, D. D.)
Zion’s awakening
Is the injunction obsolete? By no means. And the Church-catholic to-day is in the set of obeying
it. Let us notice two or three significant indications—
1. Never in any period of the world’s history has the Bible been more universally and
intensely studied than it is now. And the study of it is far, very far, from being prevailingly
hostile.
2. As another indication of this fact I quote the old saying, “In union there is strength;”
especially is it true when other essential elements of strength are not wanting. In this day
there is a visible tendency towards union.
3. Another indication is the rapid progress in mission work. (R. V. Foster, D. D.)
Put on thy strength, O Zion
Zion’s strength
What is the strength of Zion? The strength of any community is primarily in the individuals who
constitute it; so that the strength of the Church of God is, not entirely, but first of all, in the
20. separate members of that body. The strength of Zion is also the power of every religious
principle. It is the power of faith and hope and love; the power of patience and perseverance and
courage and meekness. There is strength in all life, and Zion lives with the rich and full and
eternal life of God within her. Knowledge is power, and the Church of the living God has the
highest kind of knowledge. A settled faith is power, and Zion has a fixed and positive belief.
Confidence and trust are power, and the Church of God relies upon God. Hope is power, and the
hope of the Church is as an anchor sure and steadfast. Love is power, and godly charity never
faileth. Patience, perseverance and courage are powers, before which obstacles yield and
dangers flee away, and the Church of God is trained to be patient and steadfast and brave. The
strength of Zion is the power of certain agencies and influences. The Church has power in her
testimony to truth, in her intercession before God, and in her character as the leaven of society
and the salt of the nations. Union is strength where alliance is wise and entire; where heart
sympathizes with heart and hand joins in hand. We proceed to state reasons why God should
thus speak to His Church.
I. GOD BIDS ZION PUT ON HER STRENGTH FOR SELF-MANIFESTATION. Not for self-
magnification. Self-magnification is disloyal, traitorous and impious; self-manifestation is a
plain duty (Mat_5:16). The Church of God can walk and work and endure; then why appear
impotent and helpless? Strong winds make themselves heard. Strong sunshine makes itself felt.
Strong life shows itself, whether in the animal or vegetable kingdom. And the Church, to be
heard and seen and felt and known, must be strong.
II. GOD BIDS ZION PUT ON HER STRENGTH THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED. A redeemed
man is a new creation and a Divine workmanship. A congregation of believing men, and the
whole visible Church, are of God s founding. Ye are God’s husbandry; ye are God s building.
Now if the husbandry appear as the field of the slothful, and as the vineyard of the man void of
understanding; if it be all grown over with thorns, and nettles cover the face thereof, and the
stone wall thereof be broken down; if the building appear to be defective in foundation,
imperfect in construction, and framed together with bad material—the name of God, instead of
being honoured, will be blasphemed (1Pe_2:9-10; Isa_43:21).
III. GOD REQUIRES ZION TO PUT OUT HER STRENGTH FOR THE SAKE OF HER OWN
WELL-BEING. If the powers of the Church be inactive, they will decline. The staff faith, if never
used, will decay, etc.
IV. ZION IS REQUIRED TO PUT ON HER STRENGTH IN ORDER TO MEET THE CLAIMS
OF A SINFUL AND SUFFERING WORLD.
V. GOD DIRECTS ZION TO PUT ON HER STRENGTH BECAUSE STRENGTH HAS BEEN
GIVEN HER TO PUT ON.
VI. IS NOT THIS PUTTING ON OF STRENGTH AS ESSENTIAL TO ZION’S PEACE AND JOY
AS TO HER OUTWARD PROSPERITY? (S. Martin.)
Thy strength of Zion
Thy strength of Zion is the strength of human nature. It is masculine energy, feminine
susceptibility, the vivacity of childhood, the buoyancy of youth, and the force of maturity. It is
the power of body, soul and spirit, it is intellectual power, emotional force, and moral strength.
It is the strength of regenerated humanity, therefore spiritual and religious power; the strength
of man redeemed unto God, and as redeemed, allied to God, dwelt in by God, and made strong
by union with God. The strength of Zion is the strength of all that redeemed humanity is, and of
all that is within human nature when regenerated and sanctified by the grace of God. (S.
Martin.)
21. Strength put on by being put out
If a man put out his strength, he puts on strength, he appears clothed with strength as with a
garment. Virgil furnishes us with an illustration: AEneas visits Drepanum in Sicily, and them by
various games celebrates the anniversary of his father’s death. The combatants with the cestus
are described. Dares first shows his face with strength prodigious, and rears himself amid loud
murmurs from the spectators. He uplifts his lofty head, presents his broad shoulders,
brandishes his arms and beats the air with his fists. And Entellus accepted his challenge, flung
from his shoulders his vest, bared his huge limbs, his big bones and sinewy arms, and stood
forth of mighty frame in the middle of the field. Forthwith each on his tiptoes stood erect, and
undaunted raised his arms aloft in the air. Dares and Entellus, as they put out strength, put on
strength. A working-man and a trained athlete, when asleep or otherwise in repose, appear
clothed with weakness. All the muscles are relaxed, and the limbs are motionless and apparently
powerless, as the parts of a marble statue. But when the athlete is engaged in some bodily
exercise, or the working-man is handling his tools and lifting his materials, his appearance is
that of one arrayed with power. As he puts out strength he puts on strength, nor can he put it out
without putting it on. Adapting the expression of the idea to common utterance, we may read
our text, “Put out thy strength, O Zion.” (S. Martin.)
Injunctions to be strong
My text harmonizes with words frequently addressed to Zion and to her sons (1Ki_2:2;
Isa_35:4; Isa_40:9; Isa_40:31; Hag_2:4; Zec_8:9-13; 1Co_16:13; Eph_6:10; 2Ti_2:1). (S.
Martin.)
God’s call to be strong
It is interesting to observe by how many voices God speaks as in our text. By the smarting of the
conscience when the strength is withheld, and by the glowing of the conscience when the
strength is consecrated; by the breadth of love which God’s law requires, and by the depth of
privilege which the Gospel provides; by the correction administered when we are inactive and
inert, and by the blessedness experienced when we abound in the work of the Lord, God is
continually saying, “Put on thy strength, O Zion.” (S. Martin.)
Some elements of Church strength
1. Soundness in doctrine.
2. Purity of life among the members of the Church.
3. Thoroughness of organization for Church work.
4. Faithfulness in individual effort to do good.
5. Regularity of attendance upon the services of the Church.
6. Pecuniary liberality.
7. Unity among the members.
22. 8. A prayerful spirit.
9. An abiding faith in the presence of God with the Church. Where these are to be found the
Church will be strong. (D. Winters.)
The elements of the Church’s strength
I. THE GREATNESS OF HER AIMS. Great aims enthused great souls, and the Church proposed
the conquest of the world for Christ.
II. THE MATCHLESS POWER OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH, which may be illustrated by the
distinctively Christian doctrines of our moral ruin, redemption through a Divine-human
Saviour, the possibility of a regenerate life, and the blessedness of an immortal hope.
III. But these doctrines needed a voice; hence another element of the Church’s strength is A
WITNESSING MEMBERSHIP. All Christians may witness for the truth by the testimony of the
lips, and also by the silent but potent ministry of the life.
IV. Another mighty force in the service of the Church is A CO-OPERATIVE PROVIDENCE.
V. THE ENDOWMENT OF THE HOLY GHOST. (Bp. W. X. Winde.)
The supreme point of energy
Men can rouse themselves to action. We cannot live continuously in ecstasy; we must live under
ourselves, so to speak, or life will become a pain and a failure. We are, however, to have periods
of special effort, hours of rapture, times of inspiration and sense of mightiness beyond all that is
ordinary. There is more power in man than he may be aware of, and he should inquire what
objects and pursuits are worthy of his enthusiastic devotion. Drive a horse from home, and in
the course of the day he will show weariness which you may regard as a sign of utter exhaustion;
but turn his head homeward, and see what a change takes place! How willingly he runs! How
swiftly! He has “put on his strength”! Work for a person who is not a favourite, and the hands
soon tire: every effort is a weariness to the flesh, every thought wears the mind; on the other
hand, serve a person who is beloved, etc. Undertake any engagement which does not excite the
interest of the heart, and how soon it becomes irksome. The mother waits upon her sick child,
and wonders how she can endure so much. The mystery is in the love. We are strong when we
work in the direction of our will. Where the will is right, the strength will assert itself. The
question is not one of muscle but of purpose. What objects, then, are worthy of “all our strength,
all our mind, and all our heart”? We may get at the answer negatively as well as positively.
I. NO OBJECT WHICH BEARS UPON THIS WORLD ONLY IS WORTHY OF THE SUPREME
ENERGY OF MAN. Even in secular affairs we work by laws of proportion and adaptation. If a
man employed a steam-engine to draw a cork, we should justly accuse him of wasting power. If a
man spent his days and nights in carving cherry-stones, we should say he was wasting his life.
We have a common saving—“the game is not worth the candle”—showing that in common
affairs we do recognize the law of proportion, and the law that results do determine the value of
processes. If, then, in the lower, how much more in the higher! Think of a being like man
spending his lifetime in writing his name in the dust! There is a success which is not worth
securing. Suppose a man should get all the money he can possibly accumulate; all the fame; all
the luxury—what does it amount to?
II. SPIRITUAL OBJECTS ARE ALONE WORTHY OF THE SUPREME ENERGY OF MAN.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc.
23. 1. They are akin to his own nature.
2. They touch every point of his being.
3. They prepare him for the solemnity and service of the future. Boundless are the prospects
of the spiritual thinker! His library, the universe! His companions, the angels! His Teacher,
God! In view of such prospects, how time dwindles, and how earth passes as a wreath of
smoke! The spiritual thinker is independent of all the influences which make up the small
world of the materialist—his citizenship is in heaven.
III. THE FACT THAT SPIRITUAL OBJECTS ALONE ARE WORTHY OF THE SUPREME
ENERGY OF MAN SHOULD IMPEL TO DECISIVE ACTION. Put on thy strength—
1. For the time is short.
2. For the enemy is on the alert.
3. For the Master is worthy. The text addresses a call to the Church. The call is to activity. He
who gives the call will give the grace. The Church is not to be feeble and tottering; it is to be
strong, valiant, heroic. He who can do without the help of the strongest is graciously pleased
to accept the service of the meanest. (J. Parker, D.D.)
Effort gives strength
I. PUT ON STRENGTH BY WAKEFULNESS. A slumbering life results in moral death.
II. PUT ON STRENGTH BY ACTIVITY. Activity imparts physical strength. We have only to
look, at the compact and knotted lump of muscle on the blacksmith s forearm. The rower s chest
is expanded by his exertions. The practised wrestler grips with an ironlike grasp the limbs of his
opponent. Even a Samson is divested of his prowess by lolling in the lap of a Delilah. We put on
intellectual strength by keeping the brain forces constantly moving. But most of all the moral
and spiritual nature is strengthened by exercise. Great is the power of habit. It is a kind of
second nature, and is the grand resultant of repeated acts.
III. PUT ON STRENGTH BY DEVELOPMENT. Art thou but a bruised reed, put on thy strength!
Hast thou but one talent, put it out to usury. Moral and spiritual strength may be developed to
the latest hour of a Methuselah’s life, and eternity will be but an ampler sphere for the
enlargement of the soul’s vast powers.
IV. PUT ON STRENGTH BY JOYFULNESS. Joy begets strength, and strength increases joy.
V. PUT ON STRENGTH BY HOPEFULNESS. The despairing are weak; but the hopeful are
strong. I will endeavour, is the inspiring language of the hopeful. The Church may well be
hopeful, for God’s promise is given for her encouragement.
VI. PUT ON STRENGTH BY UNITED PRAYER. The Church’s prosperous times are the praying
times. The praying man is the strong man. (W. Burrows, B.A.)
Strength increased by use
A lady was watching a potter at his work, whose one foot was kept with “never-slackening speed
turning at swift wheel round,” while the other rested patiently on the ground. When the lady
said to him, in a sympathizing tone, “How tired your foot must be!” the man raised his eyes and
said, “No, ma’am; it isn’t the foot that works that’s tired; it’s the foot that stands. That s it.” If
you want to keep your strength, use it; if you want to get tired, do nothing. (Christian Budget.)
24. The danger of inaction
A magnet is sometimes seen in a chemist’s laboratory, suspended against a wall, and loaded
heavily with weights. We ask the reason, and the scientist replies, “The magnet was losing
power, because it had not been used for some time. I am restoring its force by giving it
something to do.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
1.BARNES, “Shake thyself from the dust - To sit on the ground, to sit in the dust, is an
expression descriptive of mourning Job_2:13. Jerusalem is here called on to arise and shake off
the dust, as indicating that the days of her grief were ended, and that she was about to be
restored to her former beauty and splendor.
Arise and sit down - There is an incongruity in this expression in our translation, which
does not occur in the original. The idea in the Hebrew is not that which seems to be implied in
this expression to arise and sit down in the same place, but it means to arise from the dust, and
sit in a more elevated, or honorable place. She had been represented as sitting on the earth,
where her loose flowing robes would be supposed to become covered with dust. She is here
called on to arise from that humble condition, and to occupy the divan, or a chair of dignity and
honor. Lowth renders this, ‘Ascend thy lofty seat,’ and supposes it means that she was to occupy
a throne, or an elevated seat of honor, and he quotes oriental customs to justify this
interpretation. Noyes renders it, ‘Arise and sit erect.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘Rise, sit upon the
throne of thy glory.’ The following quotation, from Jowett’s Christian Researches, will explain
the custom which is here alluded to: ‘It is no uncommon thing to see an individual, or group of
persons, even when very well dressed, sitting with their feet drawn under them, upon the bare
earth, passing whole hours in idle conversation.
25. Europeans would require a chair, but the natives here prefer the ground. In the heat of
summer and autumn, it is pleasant to them to while away their time in this manner, under the
shade of a tree. Richly adorned females, as well as men, may often be seen thus amusing
themselves. As may naturally be expected, with whatever care they may, at first sitting down,
choose their place, yet the flowing dress by degrees gathers up the dust; as this occurs, they,
from time to time, arise, adjust themselves, shake off the dust, and then sit down again. The
captive daughter of Zion, therefore, brought down to the dust of suffering and oppression, is
commanded to arise and shake herself from that dust, and then, with grace, and dignity, and
composure, and security, to sit down; to take, as it were, again her seat and her rank, amid the
company of the nations of the earth, which had before afflicted her, and trampled her to the
earth.’
Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck - Jerusalem had been a captive, and confined
as a prisoner. She is now called on to cast off these chains from her neck, and to be again at
liberty. In captivity, chains or bands were attached to various parts of the body. They were
usually affixed to the wrists or ankles, but it would seem also that sometimes collars were affixed
to theneck. The idea is, that the Jews, who had been so long held captive, were about to be
released, and restored to their own land.
2. CLARKE, “Sit down, O Jerusalem “Ascend thy lofty seat, O Jerusalem” - The
literal rendering here is, according to our English translation, “arise, sit;” on which a very
learned person remarks: “So the old versions. But sitting is an expression of mourning in
Scripture and the ancients; and doth not well agree with the rising just before.” It does not
indeed agree, according to our ideas; but, considered in an oriental light, it is perfectly
consistent. The common manner of sitting in the eastern countries is upon the ground or the
floor with the legs crossed. The people of better condition have the floors of their chambers or
divans covered with carpets for this purpose; and round the chamber broad couches, raised a
little above the floor, spread with mattresses handsomely covered, which are called sofas. When
sitting is spoken of as a posture of more than ordinary state, it is quite of a different kind; and
means sitting on high, on a chair of state or throne called the musnud; for which a footstool was
necessary, both in order that the person might raise himself up to it, and for supporting the legs
when he was placed in it. “Chairs,” says Sir John Chardin, “are never used in Persia, but at the
coronation of their kings. The king is seated in a chair of gold set with jewels, three feet high.
The chairs which are used by the people in the east are always so high as to make a footstool
necessary. And this proves the propriety of the style of Scripture, which always joins the
footstool to the throne.” (Isa_66:1; Psa_105:1.) Voyages, tom. 9 p. 85, 12mo. Besides the six
steps to Solomon’s throne, there was a footstool of gold fastened to the seat, 2Ch_9:18, which
would otherwise have been too high for the king to reach, or to sit on conveniently.
When Thetis comes to wait on Vulcan to request armor for her son, she is received with great
respect, and seated on a silver-studded throne, a chair of ceremony, with a footstool: -
Την µεν επειτα καθεισεν επι θρονου αργυροηλου,
Καλου, δαιδαλεου· ᆓπο δε θρηνυς ποσιν ηεν.
Iliad 18:389.
“High on a throne, with stars of silver graced,
And various artifice, the queen she placed;
A footstool at her feet.”
Pope.
26. ᆍ γαρ θρονος αυτος µονον ελευθεριος εστι καθεδρα συν ᆓποποδιሩ.
Athenaeus, 5:4.
“A throne is n othing more than a handsome sort of chair with a footstool.” - L.
3. GILL, “Shake thyself from the dust,.... Or "the dust from thee" (g), in which she had sat,
or rolled herself as a mourner; or where she had been trampled upon by her persecutors and
oppressors; but now being delivered from them, as well as from all carnal professors and false
teachers, she is called upon to shake herself from the dust of debasement and distress, of false
doctrine, superstition, and will worship, in every form and shape, a great deal of which adheres
to those churches called reformed.
Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; or "sit up", as it may be rendered; arise from thy low
estate, from the ground and dust where thou art cast;
"and sit upon the throne of thy glory,''
so the Targum: it denotes the exaltation of the church from a low to a high estate, signified by
the ascension of the witnesses to heaven, Rev_11:12. Some render it, "arise, O captivity"; or
"captive" (h); so the word is used in Isa_49:24 and agrees with what follows:
loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion; or loose thou
"the bands off thy neck from thee"; which seems to denote the people of God in mystical
Babylon, a little before its destruction, who will be called out of it, as they afterwards are in this
chapter; and to throw off the Romish yoke, and release themselves from that captivity and
bondage they have been brought into by the man of sin, who now himself shall be led captive,
Rev_13:10.
4. JAMISON, “from the dust — the seat of mourners (Job_2:12, Job_2:13).
arise, and sit — namely, in a more dignified place: on a divan or a throne [Lowth], after
having shaken off the dust gathered up by the flowing dress when seated on the ground; or
simply, “Arise, and sit erect” [Maurer].
bands of ... neck — the yoke of thy captivity.
5. PULPIT, “Shake thyself from the dust (compare the opposite command given to Babylon, "Come
down, sit in the dust" Isa_47:1). Zion was to arise, shake from her all trace of the dust in which she had
been so long lying, and then calmly seat herself upon a seat of dignity. Loose thyself from the bands of
thy neck. The Hebrew text has. "The bands of thy neck are unloosened;" i.e. I have caused thy chains to
fall from thee—thou hast only to "rise," and thou wilt find thyself free. Captives in ancient times were often
fastened together by a thong or chain passed round their necks.Daughter of Zion. The
27. prophet passes, by an easy transition, from the city to the nation, which continues to be the object of
address in the remainder of the discourse.
6. CALVIN, “2.Shake thyself from the dust; arise. He explains more fully the deliverance of the
Church, and exhibits it prominently by ὑποτύπωσιν “ lively description.” When he bids her “ off the dust
and arise,” let us not on that account think that our liberty is in our power, so that we can obtain it
whenever we think fit; for it belongs to God alone to raise us from the dust, to lift us up when we are
prostrate, and, by breaking or loosing our chains, to set us at liberty. Why then does the Prophet make
use of the imperative mood? for it is unreasonable to demand what we cannot perform. I reply, the
imperative form of address has a much more powerful tendency to arouse than if he had employed plain
narrative; and therefore he declares that, when God shall have restored her to her former freedom, she
shall come out of the mire.
Sit, O Jerusalem,. The word “” denotes a flourishing condition, and is contrasted with the word “ lie,” which
denotes the lowest calamity. Sometimes indeed it means “ be prostrate,” as when he formerly said to
Babylon, “ in the dust.” (Isa_47:1.) But here the meaning is different; for, after ordering her to arise, he
likewise adds, “ she may sit;” that is, that she may no longer lie down, but may regain her former
condition, and not be in future laid prostrate by enemies.
3 For this is what the Lord says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”
1.BARNES, “Ye have sold yourselves for nought - You became captives and prisoners
without any price being paid for you. You cost nothing to those who made you prisoners. The
idea is, that as they who had made them prisoners had done so without paying any price for
them, it was equitable that they should be released in the same manner. When their captors had
paid nothing for them, God would suffer nothing to be paid for them in turn; and they should be
released, as they had been sold, without a price paid for them. Perhaps God intends here to
reproach them for selling themselves in this manner without any compensation of any kind, and
to show them the folly of it; but, at the same time, he intends to assure them that no price would
be paid for their ransom.
Ye shall be redeemed - You shall be delivered from your long and painful captivity without
any price being paid to the Babylonians. This was to be a remarkable proof of the power of God.
28. Men do not usually give up captives and slaves, in whatever way they may have taken them,
without demanding a price or ransom. But here God says that he designs to effect their
deliverance without any such price being demanded or paid, and that as they had gone into
captivity unpurchased, so they should return unpurchased. Accordingly he so overruled events
as completely to effect this. The Babylonians, perhaps, in no way could have been induced to
surrender them. God, therefore, designed to raise up Cyrus, a mild, just, and equitable prince;
and to dispose him to suffer the exiles to depart, and to aid them in their return to their own
land. In this way, they were rescued without money and without price, by the interposition of
another.
2. PULPIT, “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; rather, for nought were ye sold. God received
nothing when he allowed his people to become the slaves of the Babylonians. He took no price for them
(see Isa_50:1), and therefore is free to claim them back without payment (comp. Isa_45:13). He has but
to say the word; and he is about to say it.
3. GILL, “For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for nought,.... As Ahab did
to work wickedness; as men do freely, and get nothing by it; for there is nothing got in the
service of sin, Satan, and antichrist, or by being slaves and vassals to them; not profit, but loss;
not pleasure, but pain; not honour, but shame; not liberty, but bondage; not riches and wealth,
but poverty and want, which Popery always brings into those countries and people where it
obtains.
And ye shall be redeemed without money; in like manner as our spiritual and eternal
redemption from sin, Satan, and the law, the world, death, and hell, is obtained; not without the
price of the precious blood of the Lamb, but without such corruptible things as silver and gold,
1Pe_1:18 and without any price paid to those by whom we are held captive, but to God, against
whom we have sinned, whose law we have broken, and whose justice must be satisfied; and the
blood of Christ is a sufficient price to answer all: hence redemption, though it cost Christ much,
is entirely free to us; so will the redemption of the church, from the bondage and slavery of
antichrist, be brought about by the power of God undeserved by them; not through their merits,
and without any ransom price paid to those who held them captives.
4. HENRY, “That the Chaldeans who oppressed them never acknowledged God in the power
they gained over his people, any more than Sennacherib did, who, when God made use of him as
an instrument for the correction and reformation of his people, meant not so, Isa_10:6,
Isa_10:7. “You have sold yourselves for nought; you got nothing by it, nor did I,” Isa_52:3.
(God considers that when they by sin had sold themselves he himself, who had the prior, nay,
the sole, title to them, did not increase his wealth by their price, Psa_44:12. They did not so
much as pay their debts to him with it; the Babylonians gave him no thanks for them, but rather
reproached and blasphemed his name upon that account.) “And therefore they, having so long
had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for nothing: You shall be redeemed without price,”
as was promised, Isa_45:13. Those that give nothing must expect to get nothing; however, God
is a debtor to no man.
5. JAMISON, “As you became your foes’ servants, without their paying any price for you
(Jer_15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (Isa_45:13),
29. (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like
manner). So the spiritual Israel, “sold under sin,” gratuitously (Rom_7:14), shall be redeemed
also gratuitously (Isa_55:1).
6. K&D 3-6, “The reason for the address is now given in a well-sustained promise. “For thus
saith Jehovah, Ye have been sold for nothing, and ye shall not be redeemed with silver. For
thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down to Egypt in the beginning to dwell there as
guests; and Asshur has oppressed it for nothing. And now, what have I to do here? saith
Jehovah: for my people are taken away for nothing; their oppressors shriek, saith Jehovah,
and my name is continually blasphemed all the day. Therefore my people shall learn my
name; therefore, in that day, that I am He who saith, There am I.” Ye have been sold (this is the
meaning of Isa_52:3); but this selling is merely a giving over to a foreign power, without the
slightest advantage accusing to Him who had no other object in view than to cause them to
atone for their sins (Isa_50:1), and without any other people taking their place, and serving Him
in their stead as an equivalent for the loss He sustained. And there would be no need of silver to
purchase the favour of Him who had given them up, since a manifestation of divine power would
be all that would be required (Isa_45:13). For whether Jehovah show Himself to Israel as the
Righteous One or as the Gracious One, as a Judge or as a Redeemer, He always acts as the
Absolute One, exalted above all earthly affairs, having no need to receive anything, but able to
give everything. He receives no recompense, and gives none. Whether punishing or redeeming,
He always guards His people's honour, proving Himself in the one case to be all-sufficient, and
in the other almighty, but acting in both cases freely from Himself.
In the train of thought in Isa_52:4-6 the reason is given for the general statement in Isa_52:3.
Israel went down to Egypt, the country of the Nile valley, with the innocent intention of
sojourning, i.e., living as a guest (gur) there in a foreign land; and yet (as we may supply from
the next clause, according to the law of a self-completing parallelism) there it fell into the
bondage of the Pharaohs, who, whilst they did not fear Jehovah, but rather despised Him, were
merely the blind instruments of His will. Asshur then oppressed it be
phes, i.e., not “at last”
(ultimo tempore, as Hävernick renders it), but (as אפס is the synonym of ִןִיፍ in Isa_40:17;
Isa_41:2) “for nothing,” i.e., without having acquired any right to it, but rather serving in its
unrighteousness simply as the blind instrument of the righteousness of Jehovah, who through
the instrumentality of Asshur put an end first of all to the kingdom of Israel, and then to the
kingdom of Judah. The two references to the Egyptian and Assyrian oppressions are expressed
in as brief terms as possible. But with the words “now therefore” the prophecy passes on in a
much more copious strain to the present oppression in Babylon. Jehovah inquires, Quid mihi
hic (What have I to do here)? Hitzig supposes poh (here) to refer to heaven, in the sense of,
“What pressing occupation have I here, that all this can take place without my interfering?” But
such a question as this would be far more appropriate to the Zeus of the Greek comedy than to
the Jehovah of prophecy. Knobel, who takes poh as referring to the captivity, in accordance with
the context, gives a ridiculous turn to the question, viz., “What do I get here in Babylonia, from
the fact that my people are carried off for nothing? Only loss.” He observes himself that there is
a certain wit in the question. But it would be silly rather than witty, if, after Jehovah had just
stated that He had given up His people for nothing, the prophet represented Him as preparing
to redeem it by asking, “What have I gained by it?” The question can have no other meaning,
according to Isa_22:16, than “What have I to do here?” Jehovah is thought of as present with
His people (cf., Gen_46:4), and means to inquire whether He shall continue this penal condition